They Were There For Me
by Purple Ink
Summary: Peter Pettigrew listens to the voices in his head. PG for very, er, strange logic. This is a revised version - it reads a whole lot easier now!


Author's Notes: This is a very odd little story from Peter's point of view. He has memories from Hogwarts, and wonders if he should give away the Potter's secret. He comes to a very strange conclusion, I'm warning you. Ha ha ha ha! Let's see if the italics work.  
  
Disclaimer: The stuff that isn't mine isn't mine. It's JK Rowling's. Duh.  
  
  
***  
  
"Peter, I - I can't express my gratitude. I can't tell you how much this means to me - to us," Lily said to me with tears in her eyes. I faked a smile.  
  
There was one thing I had always been the best at in school; it wasn't quidditch, it wasn't grades, it wasn't girls or looks. I had to have been the best actor. I could fool anyone. And now, I had fooled the Potters into making me their secret-keeper.  
  
I left the house in a run, in case Lily and James suddenly changed their minds. I had their lives in my hands now, as they had been so foolish to give it to me.  
  
I walked through the streets of Hogsmeade. I wanted a drink to celebrate this glorious occasion for me, and my master. But as I glanced from side to side at all the stores that I used to visit with my friends, I became hesitant in thinking of immediately divulging the secret to the Dark Lord.  
  
*  
  
I entered the store after James, Sirius, and Remus. We had come to Hogsmeade to buy Christmas presents, and I needed something for my Mum.  
  
I searched the shelves of the quiet gift shop (which was not quiet now that Sirius and James were in it, by the way), looking for something that I could afford. I wasn't the richest of kids.  
  
Then I saw it - it was a golden locket, shaped like a heart. I opened it, and it played music. Inside was a space for a picture. It was perfect. I had to get it.  
  
I slowly looked at the price tag, then my heart broke - 10 galleons. I could never afford that. I replaced the locket, my eyes watering.  
  
"Hey Pete what's that - oh, why are you crying?" James asked as he came over to me, with a look of concern. He saw the locket and the price and immediately understood.  
  
"Sirius, Remus! Over here!" Remus and Sirius walked to where James and I were, and I felt utterly ashamed and embarrassed. They weren't going to... no...  
  
"Either of you got any money left?" James asked as he pulled out what was left of his money. Five galleons.  
  
Remus searched his pockets. "Err... I've got two galleons," he said as pulled the gold coins out.  
  
"I've got three, hey - just enough for you to buy it, Pete. Here. But don't expect anything for Christmas!" Sirius chuckled as he also gave his money to me.  
  
I was speechless. They had all given to me all of their money. I bought the locket, knowing I had true friends.  
  
*  
  
I shook myself mentally as I remembered that. Two galleons, three galleons, five galleons - it wasn't that much money.  
  
"It would be to eleven-year olds," a voice in the back of my head told me. We had been in our first year when they bought me the locket. I ignored the voice, as another memory came to my mind...  
  
*  
  
I opened my eyes, feeling immediate excitement - Christmas! It was Christmas! Sure, I wouldn't have any presents, and I hadn't given anything to James, Sirius, and Remus, even though they had bought me the locket. But still, I was looking forward to the feast. It was my first Christmas at Hogwarts.  
  
I stepped off the bed and my foot hit something.  
  
"Ow," I said, looking at what I hit. Presents. But from whom?  
  
There were three. I looked at the tags - one each from James, Sirius, and Remus. They still, despite promising that the locket was their gift, gave me something.  
  
True friends.  
  
*  
  
"Who cares?!?" I shouted to myself. "It was just Christmas presents, for God's sake!" Maybe that wasn't it. I couldn't stop it, now more memories came floating to the front of my mind...  
  
*  
  
"Pettigrew, can you not brew a simple morphing potion correctly?" Professor Aeful (a/n - evil, ha ha, get it?) screeched at me. I bowed my head, and the professor scolded me for my green potion - which should have been red.   
  
"At the end of the period, we shall try it out on you - that shall be motivation enough to get it correct!" the professor sneered. I paled.  
  
"Psst - Pete! Add a unicorn hair," a voice said beside me. It was James. I automatically put one in. "Now put in a beetles eye, but make sure you put in just one!"  
  
And James guided me through the whole potion. At the end of class, my potion was the right color and it worked.  
  
"James - thank you!" I said as we left the classroom.  
  
"No problem," he replied, but I knew it was. He had given up time from working on his potion to help me with mine, so he had gotten a failing grade for the day.  
  
Just to help me.  
  
*  
  
"A failing grade just for the day? That was nothing, he had A's every other day, it didn't lower it one bit!" I said, feeling silly for arguing with myself. But it had. He had lost top grade in Potions for the semester, and it went to some Slytherin girl. James and Sirius had been a close second and third, but James would have been first.  
  
"Who cares about a Goddamned grade?!?" I yelled. People were looking at me oddly. I tried to think of something else, anything, just to keep the memories from coming back.  
  
*  
  
"So who are you going with to the dance?" Sirius asked over breakfast. I blushed, and muttered, "No one."  
  
"What? Didn't catch that." I felt humiliated. No girl would ever want to go with short, stupid, fat little Peter Pettigrew. I said this, and Lily looked shocked.  
  
"No! That's not true Peter. I'll go with you!" Lily said, smiling at me. My turn to feel shocked - I knew she and all the other girls had been looking forward to this dance all year, and I knew Lily wanted more than anything to go with James.  
  
But she wasn't going to, just for me.  
  
*  
  
"They would have had plenty of other times to dance! They got married, for God's sake!" I couldn't stand this rush of memories. They were making me have just the teeniest doubt about giving their secret to the Dark Lord...  
  
*  
  
"Watch where you're going!" Lucius Malfoy yelled as he stood up. We'd just had a head-on collision in the hallway. When he saw it was me, he sneered, "Oh, it's you, Pettigrew."  
  
I just stared at him, scared.  
  
"Well, we have to make sure you don't EVER bump into me again, don't we?" he laughed evilly. I began to shake.  
  
"Is there a problem?" Sirius said as he and James rounded the corner. I turned and looked at them.  
  
"Look, it's Potter and Black! Ooh, I'm really scared." Lucius Malfoy spat. "I have to teach this stupid little squib a lesson." He raised his wand, about to do a curse. But someone beat him to it, and Sirius, James, and Lucius began an all-out battle. I ran into the corner for shelter against stray hexes.  
  
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!?" The shrill voice of Professor McGonagall rang through my ears. She looked down at Lucius, Sirius, and James, all bruised, cut, and bearing extra limbs.  
  
"Hospital wing now! And detention every night for a month!" She yelled. "I expected more from my own house, Potter, Black." She sighed, and continued to go wherever she was going before she saw the fight.  
  
*  
  
"So what? Detention was nothing to them!" I said, arguing once again with myself. "They had detention all the time!  
  
They were always there for me. There was no way I could get around it now - the truth was obvious.  
  
"Ah, but James and Lily are going to die sooner or later," another mysterious voice in my head said. (a/n - notice how Peter has lots of voices in his head....hmm, strange....) "If you refuse to give the secret to the Dark Lord, he'll kill you. But he'll still get the Potters anyway. So it would be an unnecessary death, and James and Lily wouldn't want that, would they?"  
  
"No, they wouldn't...." I said in response to myself. People were backing away from me.  
  
"They'll thank you. They wouldn't want their friend to die." The voice said.  
  
That voice was right. They wouldn't want unnecessary death!  
  
I set off for Voldemort's (I trembled at the name, even in my head) lair. I gave the secret.  
  
I was being a true friend, wasn't I?  
  
***  
  
Author's closing notes: OH MY GOD, WHAT AN IDIOT!!! Well, he never was the sharpest wand in the... err... wand shop! Review if you liked it, please! I love reviews. Thanks to everyone who reviewed "Advice"! And thanks in advance to people who will review this! Yeah! 


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